The IT-DML Program consists of eleven courses, and is to be completed in one calendar year. The table above indicates the balanced mix of hybrid and totally online courses that compose the sequence of courses. There are two Digital Symposium Weekends that are planned before and after the Winter session in which all students will meet face to face to showcase work completed up until that point in the sequence, and receive more intensive instructional support.
ED 6XX – Foundations of Instructional Technology (3 cr.) This course frames the broad issues of instructional technology that will recur throughout the course. What do we mean when we talk about "technology" or “technologies?” What is the social construction of technology? Students will explore its definitions as they relate to instruction, and whether specific technologies are reserved for certain people, certain subjects, and certain educational ends. Students will also investigate what rhetorical work technology performs, and where "technology" ends and "school and society" begin. Students will also investigate the relationships between technology, learning, and power. What are the consequences of linking the idea of learning to technology?
ED 6XX – Foundations in Media Literacy (3 cr.) Students in this course will consider technologies of communication as they shaping social systems, including educational systems, from sweeping historical arguments to a focused study of television that attempts to account for the feedback loops between institutions, audiences, and technology. The class will examine foundational writings across various media as they have been used in K-12 instruction particularly; they will also investigate how computer code and internet architecture shape human potential. The class will consider the distinct contours of media and information technologies and how these influence current students’ perceptions of theirs and others’ realities.
ED 6XX – Media, Technology and Learning across the Curriculum (3 cr.) Students in this course will investigate the organizing and integrating of media in school curricula and other educational programs. They will explore some theories of media technology and identify instructional purposes and defining roles for technologies and media in learning and teaching, as well as examine and compare curricular designs for their concordance with the procedures of technology in education. Students will also investigate current school criteria for selection and evaluation of materials.
ED 6XX – Global Literacy in the Twenty-First Century (3 cr.) This course allows students to explore literacy practices in their classrooms and districts from a world perspective. Nearly a quarter of 16 to 65-year-olds in the world's richest countries are functionally illiterate; students will explore American schools’ roles in perpetuating this figure, investigating adult illiteracy as well as youth illiteracy. Students will also examine how literacy practices differ throughout the world, and whether a monolithic definition of what it means to be literature may be expanding through technological connections.
ED 6XX – Critical Literacy Praxis (3 cr.) Beginning with the critical approach that views illiteracy as a consequence of unequal social which limits access to economic and educational opportunities, this course investigates how learning to read and write – with all kinds of technologies and tools –is part of the process of becoming conscious as historically constructed within specific power relations. Students will reexamine what they know about literacy in their own instructional practices and institutional contexts; they will identify ways in which they can use required instructional materials as well as challenge standard school literacy practices. They will also investigate how current technologies reify and challenge particular notions of literacy and power.
ED 6XX – Central Issues and Research in New Literacies (3 cr.) This course is designed to provide a context in which pre-service and in-service teachers can explore a range of "new" Literacies and the implications of these new Literacies for school-based literacy education. This course comprises a theoretical dimension that focuses on literacy as a social practice, and a practical dimension that includes hands-on use of a range of new digital technologies and new literacy practices. Attention will be paid to developing effective ways of taking up new Literacies in classroom contexts.
ED 6XX – Distance Learning – Trends, Issues, and Practices (3 cr.)This course presents a comprehensive overview of contemporary distance learning technologies, both in the sense of a product and a process. The course deals with a number of theoretical issues and practical
Considerations for practicing educators and for K-12 students. Students will explore conceptual frameworks, guiding principles, critical steps, current technologies, and future trends in their respective subject areas and curricula. Students will also use case studies that will contribute to the development of an in-depth understanding of the important issues by relating theoretical explanations to practical challenges in order to create strong distance learning alternatives.
ED 6XX – Adaptive Technologies for the Inclusive Classroom (3 cr.) The course is designed to provide educators with an understanding of how to use technology as a seamless part of the teaching and learning experience for students with disabilities in inclusive settings. Two main purposes for students with disabilities will be emphasized. Teachers will learn how to provide access to the curriculum for students with disabilities by using the principles of Universal Design for Learning as a framework for curriculum design. They will learn how to utilize technology to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities in order for them to attain maximum independence and participation in all environments.
ED 6XX – Current Issues in __ (3 cr.) This course will change according to world technological and educational events and trends. Possibilities include but are not limited to: Issues in security (e.g. Wikileaks), Cyberbullying, Luddites v. Users.
ED 6XX – Multimedia Production (3 cr.)Multimedia production will give students opportunities to learn powerful new tools for teaching and learning by combining technologies such as video, audio, graphics, interactivity, and text. Students in this course will learn how to identify, choose, plan for, produce, and integrate multimedia into instruction.Students willbe able to identify and evaluate multimedia resources (e.g. authoring tools, educational software, Internet sites), be able to incorporate multimedia into instruction, know operations of hardware and software that supports multimedia (e.g. Digital cameras, digital video, scanners, authoring tools, presentation tools), and know legal and ethical issues associated with multimedia tools and production.
ED 6XX – Digital Portfolio (6 cr.)This course will serve as a capstone or culminating course for the 6th year degree. Students will develop digital portfolios will a purposeful collection of student work that illustrates efforts, progress and achievement in the program objectives. Students will be expected to demonstrate mastery of instructional technological tools as well as mastery of the pedagogical and intellectual content, synthesizing them into a portfolio that demonstrates their significant mastery of instructional technologies and media literacies.
The IT-DML Course Sequence
The IT-DML Program consists of eleven courses, and is to be completed in one calendar year. The table above indicates the balanced mix of hybrid and totally online courses that compose the sequence of courses. There are two Digital Symposium Weekends that are planned before and after the Winter session in which all students will meet face to face to showcase work completed up until that point in the sequence, and receive more intensive instructional support.
ED 6XX – Foundations of Instructional Technology (3 cr.) This course frames the broad issues of instructional technology that will recur throughout the course. What do we mean when we talk about "technology" or “technologies?” What is the social construction of technology? Students will explore its definitions as they relate to instruction, and whether specific technologies are reserved for certain people, certain subjects, and certain educational ends. Students will also investigate what rhetorical work technology performs, and where "technology" ends and "school and society" begin. Students will also investigate the relationships between technology, learning, and power. What are the consequences of linking the idea of learning to technology?
ED 6XX – Foundations in Media Literacy (3 cr.) Students in this course will consider technologies of communication as they shaping social systems, including educational systems, from sweeping historical arguments to a focused study of television that attempts to account for the feedback loops between institutions, audiences, and technology. The class will examine foundational writings across various media as they have been used in K-12 instruction particularly; they will also investigate how computer code and internet architecture shape human potential. The class will consider the distinct contours of media and information technologies and how these influence current students’ perceptions of theirs and others’ realities.
ED 6XX – Media, Technology and Learning across the Curriculum (3 cr.) Students in this course will investigate the organizing and integrating of media in school curricula and other educational programs. They will explore some theories of media technology and identify instructional purposes and defining roles for technologies and media in learning and teaching, as well as examine and compare curricular designs for their concordance with the procedures of technology in education. Students will also investigate current school criteria for selection and evaluation of materials.
ED 6XX – Global Literacy in the Twenty-First Century (3 cr.) This course allows students to explore literacy practices in their classrooms and districts from a world perspective. Nearly a quarter of 16 to 65-year-olds in the world's richest countries are functionally illiterate; students will explore American schools’ roles in perpetuating this figure, investigating adult illiteracy as well as youth illiteracy. Students will also examine how literacy practices differ throughout the world, and whether a monolithic definition of what it means to be literature may be expanding through technological connections.
ED 6XX – Critical Literacy Praxis (3 cr.) Beginning with the critical approach that views illiteracy as a consequence of unequal social which limits access to economic and educational opportunities, this course investigates how learning to read and write – with all kinds of technologies and tools –is part of the process of becoming conscious as historically constructed within specific power relations. Students will reexamine what they know about literacy in their own instructional practices and institutional contexts; they will identify ways in which they can use required instructional materials as well as challenge standard school literacy practices. They will also investigate how current technologies reify and challenge particular notions of literacy and power.
ED 6XX – Central Issues and Research in New Literacies (3 cr.) This course is designed to provide a context in which pre-service and in-service teachers can explore a range of "new" Literacies and the implications of these new Literacies for school-based literacy education. This course comprises a theoretical dimension that focuses on literacy as a social practice, and a practical dimension that includes hands-on use of a range of new digital technologies and new literacy practices. Attention will be paid to developing effective ways of taking up new Literacies in classroom contexts.
ED 6XX – Distance Learning – Trends, Issues, and Practices (3 cr.)This course presents a comprehensive overview of contemporary distance learning technologies, both in the sense of a product and a process. The course deals with a number of theoretical issues and practical
Considerations for practicing educators and for K-12 students. Students will explore conceptual frameworks, guiding principles, critical steps, current technologies, and future trends in their respective subject areas and curricula. Students will also use case studies that will contribute to the development of an in-depth understanding of the important issues by relating theoretical explanations to practical challenges in order to create strong distance learning alternatives.
ED 6XX – Adaptive Technologies for the Inclusive Classroom (3 cr.) The course is designed to provide educators with an understanding of how to use technology as a seamless part of the teaching and learning experience for students with disabilities in inclusive settings. Two main purposes for students with disabilities will be emphasized. Teachers will learn how to provide access to the curriculum for students with disabilities by using the principles of Universal Design for Learning as a framework for curriculum design. They will learn how to utilize technology to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities in order for them to attain maximum independence and participation in all environments.
ED 6XX – Current Issues in __ (3 cr.) This course will change according to world technological and educational events and trends. Possibilities include but are not limited to: Issues in security (e.g. Wikileaks), Cyberbullying, Luddites v. Users.
ED 6XX – Multimedia Production (3 cr.)Multimedia production will give students opportunities to learn powerful new tools for teaching and learning by combining technologies such as video, audio, graphics, interactivity, and text. Students in this course will learn how to identify, choose, plan for, produce, and integrate multimedia into instruction.Students willbe able to identify and evaluate multimedia resources (e.g. authoring tools, educational software, Internet sites), be able to incorporate multimedia into instruction, know operations of hardware and software that supports multimedia (e.g. Digital cameras, digital video, scanners, authoring tools, presentation tools), and know legal and ethical issues associated with multimedia tools and production.
ED 6XX – Digital Portfolio (6 cr.) This course will serve as a capstone or culminating course for the 6th year degree. Students will develop digital portfolios will a purposeful collection of student work that illustrates efforts, progress and achievement in the program objectives. Students will be expected to demonstrate mastery of instructional technological tools as well as mastery of the pedagogical and intellectual content, synthesizing them into a portfolio that demonstrates their significant mastery of instructional technologies and media literacies.